


Renewals, revelations and resolutions

by HufflepuffCariad



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Family, Family Fluff, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Scorbus, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 19:39:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16047203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffCariad/pseuds/HufflepuffCariad
Summary: As those around them renew or begin their lives together, Albus and Scorpius are forced to confront their own feelings. With a little help from Rose and James, will they get there before they drive the rest of their family mad?





	1. Renewals

Scorpius stared open mouthed at the gold envelope in his hands. 

‘Me? They’ve invited me?’

Albus shrugged. ‘Yeah, you and your Dad. Not sure how Ron felt about inviting your Dad, but Hermione overruled him as usual.’

‘But why?’

Albus frowned. ‘Aren’t your Dad and Hermione working together now, some dark object project?’

Scorpius grinned. 'Object project, try saying that when you've had a couple of firewhiskeys. But yeah, they’re working together to identify missing dark objects, stuff they know about but don’t know where it is, or rumours they’ve heard of other things that have been made. They don’t want another time turner incident.’ The boys grinned sheepishly at each other. ‘With Dad’s knowledge, and the Ministry’s power to search people’s homes, they’ve found loads of stuff.’

‘Yeah well that’s why then.’

‘But why me? I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m giddy with delight- the Minister- the actual Minister for Magic, and Ron Weasley, Order of Merlin first Class- have invited me to their wedding, but why?’

Albus rolled his eyes. ‘It’s not their wedding, they’re already married. It’s only a stupid renewal ceremony.’

‘But still…’

‘Well you’re a friend of the family now aren’t you? And haven’t you been round to theirs for dinner?’

‘Yes, and they’ve come to us. The Minister actually asked Dad if he was going to invite her round, and he got all embarrassed and said he hadn’t thought she would want to come…do you know if anything happened at Malfoy Manor during the war? Dad never talks about it.’

Albus shrugged. ‘I dunno. And you don’t have to keep calling her ‘The Minister’. It’s only Hermione. Does she let you call her The Minister?’

‘No, she’s told me to call her Hermione. But she IS the Minister. I can’t get used to it.' He paused. 'I’ll never understand your lack of interest in your family’s history.’

Scorpius sighed. He knew better than to push it, even if it did frustrate him sometimes (as far as he could get frustrated by Albus, which was not that far.) He was fascinated by that period of history, even more so now that he’d seen what the world could have become. From everything that he’d read (and he’d read a lot), the task that Harry, Ron and Hermione had faced had been enormous to the point of being nearly impossible, and yet they’d not only succeeded, they’d lived to tell the tale! And that was just from what he’d read. He strongly suspected that some details had been left out. None of them had ever agreed to be interviewed for them after all, and some of the books alluded to a mystery that had been covered up, possibly in an attempt to make sure that whatever Voldermort had done was never repeated. People would revere them for generations, and he was lucky enough to be in a generation where he could talk to them about it! He had so many questions. Did they know the enormity of the task when they took it on? Did they fear for their lives? Did they know what the world would be like if they failed? He longed to ask them, and wished that Albus had asked so that he could get the information from him. He had a secret ambition, not even admitted to Albus, of being the person who wrote the true, full account of that time. He could write it from the perspective of the next generation, and how it had impacted on them. He knew now, that his dad had regretted his part in the war, but it had still had an impact on his childhood. He longed to know more about his Dad’s experience, but he knew he didn’t like talking about it. But maybe if he was writing a book…

Maybe he and Rose could write it together- it would be interesting to compare the perspectives of children who had grown up with parents on opposing sides. Husband and wife writing team, he grinned to himself. They’d be formidable! Although- it was a bit strange. The more time he spent with Rose, the less he could imagine them as a couple. He didn’t like her any less- in fact he was really glad they were becoming friends, if only to have someone to talk about books and classes with, when Albus had had enough. But imagining them together, holding hands, doing more… it was a bit weird. He didn’t get that tingle when he hugged her that he got when he hugged Albus (and they boys were hugging more and more, much to his joy) so he had decided it was because he didn’t know Rose as well. But them the more time he spent with her, the further away that feeling felt, he couldn’t quite comprehend it, and thinking about it made his head hurt, all the contradictory thoughts buzzing around. He wondered dimly if his Dad would lend him the penseive….

‘Scorp?’

He jolted alert as he realised Albus had been talking to him.

‘Sorry, what were you saying?’

‘Did you see that it’s Muggle dress? Do you even have any Muggle clothes?’ He laughed.

‘I do have some!’ said Scorpius indignantly, but he knew Albus was right. The Malfoys had never had much contact with the Muggle world, and whilst Scorpius had bought some casual clothes to fit in with the other students whilst at Hogwarts, he didn’t have anything smart enough for a wedding.  
A gleam entered his eyes ‘I suppose I’ll have to go shopping. Muggle shopping! You’ll have to take me!’

‘I don’t know anything about shopping!’ Albus snorted. ‘Get Rose to take you!’

‘Well who buys your clothes?’

Albus flushed scarlet. ‘My mum’ he admitted embarrassedly. ‘Look I don’t know anything about shopping or clothes! I’m not as …groomed as you.’

It seemed to Scorpius that Albus had gone redder still. Scorpius flushed with pleasure, but was keen to put Albus out of his discomfort. 

‘Why is it Muggle dress anyway? Oh because The M- Hermione’s parents are Muggles.’

‘No actually’ said Albus. ‘Well I think her parents are coming, but they already know she’s a witch, no actually it was Ron’s idea, and it’s kind of genius. Everywhere they go they get bothered by groupies and fans or whatever, and photographers from the Daily Prophet or Witch Weekly. But they’re not famous in the Muggle world. So if people think that Muggles are there, they won’t be able to harass them. And the photographers would have to use Muggle cameras, which might not even work, because a lot of Muggle technology doesn’t work where there’s a lot of magic, and who wants those weird photos where no-one moves anyway? So they’re using the Statute of Secrecy to get some privacy.’

‘That is clever. I knew Hermione was a genius of course, but that’s really smart from Ron.’

‘Yeah people really underestimate him; he’s actually smarter than you’d think. He comes up with some good stuff.’

‘Well I suppose he must be pretty creative to come up with all the ideas for the shop. And of course Rose is really smart; it can’t all come from Hermione.’

Albus scowled at this. 

‘Why do you always scowl when I compliment Rose? I thought you two were getting on better now?’

‘It’s just weird, the idea of you and my cousin! If it worked out, we’d be related. That’s weird!’

‘But we’d be family! I mean you already feel like my family, but we’d be proper family! I don’t have much family, it would be nice to have a bit more.’  
He deflated a bit as he always did when he thought of his mum, and the brothers and sisters he might have had had his mum been well.

He felt Albus’s eyes on him, and heard him say in a much softer tone, ‘well hey, I’m sure she’ll dance with you at the wedding, and you can get started on that.’

Scorpius’s face lit up. ‘Do you think she will? I’m actually a great dancer, my mum taught me…’

He laughed as Albus rolled his eyes affectionately at Scorpius’s excitement, allowing him to chatter on about all the dance styles he’d learnt.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘So aren’t you going to ask me to dance?’ smirked Rose to a flummoxed Scorpius.

‘Ah-I-well-‘

Rose rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling Scorpius onto the dance floor.

Rose was a surprisingly good dancer, and between them they turned a few heads as they waltzed around the dance floor.

‘Where did you learn to dance?’ Scorpius asked her, his eyes scanning the room over the top of Rose’s head.

‘Oh my Grandad. He’s obsessed with Muggle stuff, he’s got one of those, Grommerphones is it? We used to dance together when I was little. You?’

‘My Mum. She loved all kinds of dancing, Wizard and Muggle. Dad’s not fond of dancing, so she used to dance with me.’ Scorpius looked distractedly over Rose’s shoulder as he explained. Where was he?

‘Scorpius!’

‘’Sorry what?’ he said as he snapped his eyes back to her.

‘You’ve spent months asking me out, and now I’m finally dancing with you, you’ve spent the entire time looking over my shoulder!’ She didn’t seem annoyed however. Scorpius thought she looked amused if anything.

‘Sorry sorry! I’m a terrible partner!’ I’ll pay you more attention. I was just looking for Albus. I promised I wouldn’t leave him, I was just checking he’s ok!’

Rose’s smirk seemed to get wider. ‘Of course you were. But he’s fine. He’s over there, chatting to your Dad.’

Scorpius spun round and beamed. He was delighted that his Dad and Albus got along so well.

‘But that’s why I asked you to dance actually,’ Rose continued. ‘Didn’t you wonder why, after I turned you down all those times?’

Scorpius was confused. ‘Erm, you’ve heard about my dancing prowess? Or..Oh because I promised Albus I’d stay with him! You wanted to annoy him! I know you two don’t get on, but Rose that’s really mean!’

‘No you idiot! Well I mean I would be that mean to Albus, but that’s not the reason! It was to make you realise!’

Scorpius frowned. ‘Realise what?’

‘That I’m not the Weasley you want!’

Now Scorpius was really confused. ‘What? Who do you mean?’ He cast his mind around wildly. ‘Dominique? She’s really pretty, and of course there’s the French connection but she’s a bit older and-‘

‘Nope!’ Rose looked very smug.

‘Roxanne? I suppose we have Quidditch in common but-‘

‘Nope!’

‘Molly?’

‘Nope!’

‘Well Victoire is with Teddy and-‘

‘Nope!’

Scorpius shook his head, baffled. ‘But that’s all the Weasley girls!’

‘No it isn’t, you forgot Lily, she’s also a Weasley, even though she’s a Potter. But I don’t mean her either!’

‘Then who…’

Rose’s smirk grew wider still. ‘Let me know when you figure it out. But thinking about who you’ve spent this entire dance looking for might give you a clue.’

The music ended and Scorpius stared at her as she floated away to ask someone else to dance.

‘Hey’ said Albus, appearing at his side, and clapping a hand on his shoulder. ‘How did it go? One step closer to marital bliss?’

Scorpius started at him as he felt a tingle on his shoulder where Albus’s hand still rested. He felt a swooping sensation somewhere near his stomach.

Oh no…he thought. Oh no. this is bad.


	2. Revelations

Scorpius pushed his food around the plate as Draco looked on worriedly. Scorpius had always been pale and skinny, but this had been recently exacerbated by his sudden inability to eat. 

‘Scorpius-‘

‘I’ve told you I’m fine Dad!’

Scorpius glanced up and saw that Draco was frowning, and pursing his lips. ‘Scorpius I know that you aren’t. And I’m sad that you feel unable to tell me what’s on your mind- because you can tell me anything- I love you , and I’m proud of you and nothing you tell me could change that. But I’m more sad that you’re feeling this way.’ He sighed. ‘If you can’t tell me, tell someone.’ He paused. ‘Tell Albus.’

Albus. Scorpius’ heart sank even lower at this. After his Dad, Albus was the last person  
Scorpius wanted to tell. And that thought alone was enough to break his heart. It was the first time there had ever been a secret between them. He’d always been able to tell Albus anything, and he’d known that Albus wouldn’t laugh, or reject him. But not this. Albus was the best thing in his life, his only good thing at Hogwarts. Scorpius wouldn’t risk that for anything. There was no way his secret wouldn’t change things. And Scorpius certainly did not want things to change between them. 

Well, he reflected, it depends on the change-but no! he reprimanded himself. We are not going there. We are not even entertaining that thought. The sooner we get to grips with the fact that it’s never going to happen, the sooner we get over it. And Albus didn’t, couldn’t, feel the same way. Occasionally, Scorpius caught a glimpse in Albus’s eyes, and he wondered, just for a moment, but then it was gone, and he convinced himself it was a trick of the light. No, surely if Albus knew he would reject him. He wouldn’t want to spend time with him; he might not want to share a dorm with him. And Scorpius couldn’t face Hogwarts without Albus. No, it would have to remain his secret. Even if it was killing him.

‘Scorpius?’

Lost in his thoughts, he realised he hadn’t replied to his dad.

‘Look, I know he’s supposed to come to stay next week, but why don’t you invite him a few days early? I know you miss him. And it’s ok you know’ Draco proceeded cautiously. ‘It’s ok that you are close...’

Draco sighed, as Scorpius missed the intonation in his voice.

‘Yeah, maybe...’ Scorpius looked down gloomily at his plate again.

As though Albus had heard his name, his head suddenly appeared in the fire.

‘Albus!’ exclaimed Scorpius

‘Hi Scorpius! Mr. Malfoy.’

‘Albus what are you doing in the fire?’ Scorpius stared at him, amazed.

Albus’s smile seemed to falter a little, Scorpius noticed. He tried to brighten his smile to let Albus’s know he wanted to see him, though he barely succeeded. He wished so much that he could share how agonising it was to look at him.

‘Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb.. I’ll go…’

‘Not at all’ said Draco smoothly. ‘In fact we were just talking about your visit next week. Do you want to come over properly and join us for lunch?’

Albus glanced at Scorpius and seemed to deflate further. ‘No... thanks, I think we’re having a barbecue later. I was just wondering if Scorpius fancied coming over to play Quidditch? Rose, Hugo, Fred and Roxanne are here, and we need one more to even up the numbers, so James suggested I invite Scorpius, but if you don’t fancy it….’

‘James suggested it?’ asked Scorpius, astonished.

Albus brightened at this. ‘Yeah well you know, it seems he likes you now he’s made the effort to get to know you. And Rose and Lily want to size up the competition from a closer range.’

Scorpius flushed. Although Harry had apologised what seemed like a thousand times for keeping them apart, Scorpius didn’t really know how Albus family felt about him. He was over the moon that James Potter, last year’s head boy no less, wanted to have him over.

‘Oh well then , er Dad do you mind?’

‘Of course not! Go!’

‘Invite Draco for the barbecue later!’ a voice from the background sounded.

‘Did you hear that?’ asked Albus, turning to Draco. ‘They’re having some people round, probably half my family and I think Dean and Seamus and Neville and Hannah are coming.’

‘Oh, erm...’

‘Oh do come Dad, I’ll feel less guilty about spending so much of my holiday at the Potters!’  
There was something about the noise and chaos, in such contrast to his own small, quiet family that Scorpius loved.

‘Ok well that would be lovely. What time?’

‘Oh, about 7?’

‘All right I will see you both then. Have fun Scorpius, remember what we talked about.’

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Scorpius!'’ James shouted exasperatedly as another Quaffle soared through the hoops behind Scorpius.

'Sorry w-what?' asked Scorpius dazedly, his mind a million milles away.

'Right, time out. Let’s have a break and a butterbeer.' James looked meaningfully at his younger brother. Albus nodded and flew over to where Scorpius was still hovering on his broomstick.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

‘How was the game?’ asked Ginny as James slumped into the kitchen.

‘Terrible!’

Ginny looked at him quizzically. ‘How come?’

‘Scorpius bloody Malfoy!’

‘Really? I thought he wasn’t bad, isn’t he on the Slytherin team now? Did no one else decent try out last year?’

‘No! I mean no he’s great usually, and Slytherin nearly beat Gryffindor this year, would have if I hadn’t been captain. He puffed his chest out proudly. But he can’t keep his eyes off Albus long enough to watch the Quaffle!’

‘Ah’. said Ginny understanding. ‘I knew they were close, I did wonder...’

‘Close! They’re inseparable! Except when Dad you know, separated them…’

‘Do me a favour and don’t remind your father of that.’ said Ginny drily. ‘He’s already apologised to Scorpius about a thousand times, and no one wears guilt quite like your father.’

‘No, I’ve only just got him to stop asking me if he’s doing a good job, if there is anything he can do to support me and all that mushy stuff!’

‘Yes, well… Does Albus feel the same way? About Scorpius I mean.’

‘Yeah, he’s besotted too. I dunno if he knows it though. I mean you can tell by the way he looks at Scorpius, but he doesn’t really talk to me about this stuff.’ He sighed. ‘I know I was a terrible brother for Al’s first few years at Hogwarts, but I’m trying to get better y’know? And I thought if I invited Scorpius over today it must move things along a bit, let Al know that we like Scorpius, that it’s ok.’

Ginny smiled fondly. James was really growing up, she was so proud of him. Of all of them. 

‘That’s sweet. But you can’t force these things. He’ll realise, they’ll tell each other when they’re ready.’

‘I hope so. Not sure how much more I can take of this moping!’

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
‘Well if your keeping skills have gone downhill this much over the summer, I don’t think we’ll have a problem winning the Quidditch cup again’ Rose smirked as she landed gracefully next to Scorpius.

‘It’s your fault!’ he hissed. ‘Ever since you… said what you said… I haven’t been able to think of anything else. I was oblivious before! Blissfully oblivious, more than happy to keep pursuing you. Now I can’t concentrate on anything!’ he looked at his feet miserably.

Rose’s smirk grew wider. ‘Ah, you’ve figured it out then! Which Weasley you actually fancy.’

‘Yes and if you dare tell him…’ He groaned in frustration. ‘I can’t lose him Rose. He’s the only good thing I have at Hogwarts’.

‘Oi! I thought we were friends now!’ She looked at him pitifully. ‘Of course I wouldn’t. But you’re an idiot, you know that? You both are. My cousin is a bigger prat than you are, but even if he doesn’t feel the same, which he totally does by the way, he’s not so much of a prat that he won’t stop being friends with you.’

A spark of hope flared in Scorpius. ‘Yeah, maybe…though you’re wrong about Albus. He’s not even gay.’

Rose snorted ‘yeah right’.

Was it possible?’ wondered Scorpius. Could Albus have been hiding the fact he was gay? Scorpius had been hiding it from Albus after all. Though he was sure Albus had noticed something was up, the worried looks he kept shooting at Scorpius. And Scorpius was sure he’d be able to tell if Albus was hiding something that big. Albus was not good at talking about his feelings, but neither was he good at hiding them. No, he decided, this is my burden alone. He thought his Dad might be right though, he wasn’t sure how long he could go on not telling someone. Rose didn’t count, she already knew- she knew before Scorpius did! He sighed. Maybe he would have to tell Albus. Not all of it, definitely not, but he couldn’t bear having such a secret from his best friend much longer. He could feel it bubbling up inside him, threatening to spill over to the next person he spoke to. Surely it was better to tell Albus than anyone else? He glanced over at Albus, now chatting to Hugo. He looked away suddenly as Albus turned and grinned at him, adrenalin flooding through his body. This was agony. He couldn’t go on like this. How was he supposed to survive two more years at Hogwarts if he couldn’t even look at him? Telling him couldn’t make him feel any worse, surely. Time to find some of that courage that was buried in there somewhere.  
...................................................................................................................................................

 

'Scorp, what's up?'

'What do you mean?' Scorpius didn’t meet his eyes.

'You can barely look at me, you can't keep your mind on Quidditch, you’ve let in about six goals, when I know how much your Quidditch has improved, and you look like you want to be anywhere but here. Do you? Want to be somewhere else?' Albus sagged at the thought.

‘Shouldn't I have invited you?'

His heart broke at the thought that Scorpius might not want to be friends any more. Maybe he'd been invited over by someone else? Someone cooler? He certainly had a lot more friends since joining the Quidditch team, something which Albus had tried hard not to resent. Scorpius’s letters had been cooler lately, less frequent, and he had been worried that Scorpius was going off him.

Scorpius sighed. 'I need to tell you something. Is there somewhere we can talk?'

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'So what is it?' asked Albus as they got to his bedroom. His tone was softer now though, he could see Scorpius was struggling. Scorpius wondered dimly how much Albus's family saw of his gentler, kinder side.

'The thing is.' Scorpius closed his eyes. He couldn’t see Albus's reaction, he didn’t think he could bear it.

'The thing is I'm gay.' He chanced a look at Albus- Albus looked stunned.

'Oh' was all Albus could manage. Albus didn’t know what he'd been expecting, but it wasn’t this.

‘Albus?’ asked Scorpius tentatively. Albus was suddenly aware that he had been silent for a very long time. He must have been frowning because Scorpius suddenly looked panicked.

'But that doesn’t mean I fancy you or anything like that, you don’t have to worry about sharing a dormitory with me, you aren’t my type haha.' 

Albus felt a swooping sensation at those words, then immediately questioned himself. Why would he be disappointed that his best friend didn’t fancy him? He didn’t want him to fancy him, surely. Not when it couldn’t be reciprocated.

No, he told himself. It’s just that everyone wants to feel attractive, that's all. It was natural! 

He couldn’t shake the concerned feeling however. What was wrong with him? Albus furrowed his brow. It hadn’t occurred to him that Scorpius could be gay. And he couldn’t work out why it bothered him. He wasn’t homophobic, he knew that, Dean and Seamus often came round for dinner, and he never thought of them any differently to any of his mum and dad’s other friends. So why did it bother him that Scorpius was gay? He guessed he’d always just assumed that they would get girlfriends together and make a foursome, like his parents and Ron and Hermione had done. Not that they couldn’t do that if Scorpius was with a guy, but it would just… change the dynamics slightly. He quite liked being the most important guy in Scorpius’s life. He wasn’t sure how he would feel about another guy coming in and taking his place. With a girl it would be different. Although now he thought about it, he didn’t much like the idea of a girl coming in and changing the dynamic between the two of them either. Most of the boys in his year had had girlfriends by now, a couple of them boyfriends, so he knew that Scorpius and he were late starters, but they had each other, and that’s all they needed. He’d never really thought about his sexuality, just that he’d not been attracted to anyone at Hogwarts, and he had thought that Scorpius felt the same. Apart from Rose of course, but he thought that Scorpius had given her up as a lost cause ages ago. But maybe all this time he had been attracted to people, but had been too afraid to come out to do anything about it. That thought made Albus feel strangely lonely.  
The confusion must have shown on his face, because Scorpius burst into tears.

'Oh Albus please don’t hate me! Please don’t think I'm weird or creepy! If I'd known it would upset you I would have kept it a secret longer! Nothing has to change, w-we can still you know, talk about who we fancy, go on double dates…’ He trailed off. Both of them were aware that they never currently did those things. Scorpius looked down at his feet, and Albus shifted closer to him.

'Scorpius!' Albus grabbed his face with both hands, and pulled it upwards so he could look him in the eye. ' Scorpius it's fine. You're my best mate. This hasn’t changed anything. Of course I don’t feel differently about you!'

'I just don’t want anything to change between us.' Scorpius sniffed.

'It won't.' said Albus firmly. 'I can’t believe you've kept this a secret. How long have you been worrying about this?'

'Not that long actually, I didn't know myself until Rose told me.’

'Rose?'

'Yeah she told me...' Scorpius suddenly blushed furiously. She told me that I wasn't really attracted to her, and she was right.'

Albus laughed. 'My dad told me that Hermione knew that he fancied my mum before he did too. Much as I hate to admit it, they are smart, those Granger Weasleys…. So do you fancy anyone else?' he asked suddenly.

He thought he saw Scorpius pale, but was oddly relieved when he squeaked 'No, I don’t fancy anyone, no-one at all!'

‘Have you told your Dad?’ 

Scorpius looked downcast at this. ‘No, I haven’t told anyone. Especially not him. I can’t ever tell him.’

Albus gave him a puzzled look. ‘I thought things were better between you now?’

‘They are, which is why I can’t tell him.’ Scorpius looked thoroughly miserable at this thought.

Albus frowned. ‘He’ll be allright won’t he? I never thought of him as a homophobe.’

‘No I don’t think he is really.’ Scorpius sighed. ‘But I’m the last of the Malfoys. If I don’t have children, the line dies with me.’

Albus laughed. ‘Being gay doesn’t mean you can’t have children! Lily’s best mate is Siobhan Finnegan-Thomas- her Dads are Dean and Seamus.’

Scorpius eyed him gloomily. ‘Yes but she’s adopted isn’t she?’

Albus felt strangely protective of the family friends at this comment. ‘That doesn’t mean she isn’t their daughter!’

‘I know I know!’ corrected Scorpius quickly. ‘I know it doesn’t stop them being a family. But it’s blood that matters to the Malfoy. I mean my Dad doesn’t believe all the pure blood stuff anymore, I think he’d be ok if I married a half blood or something, but to have no Malfoy blood at all… I know he’d be disappointed.’ He looked at his fingers.

Albus softened. ‘Oh I see.’ He thought for a moment. ‘But there are ways aren’t there? I dunno much about it, but there must be!’

Scorpius smiled thinly. ‘Yes the Muggles have ways, they have surrogacy, and I’ve even hear of a system where a lesbian and a gay couple support each other, swapping eggs and sperm and so forth. But I’m not sure what my Dad would think about doing it the Muggle way either…’ He sighed. ‘Just when I thought maybe I wasn’t such a disappointment to my Dad, I realise I am after all.’ His eyes filled with tears.

‘Listen to me.’ Said Albus fiercely, his eyes flashing. ‘You could never be a disappointment. Do you hear me?’ He grabbed Scorpius’s hands.’ Never. You’re wonderful, never let anyone let you think otherwise. And if your Dad can’t see it…well…he’s an idiot. You can always come and live here and be an honorary Potter!’

Scorpius smiled through his tears. ‘I would love to be a honorary Potter. But I’d love more for my Dad to be proud of me.’

Albus pulled him in for a hug. He wished he could make it better for his friend- he didn’t deserve a world that made him feel like this. He wished everyone could see Scorpius as he saw him. He would like to think that Scorpius was wrong about Draco- but Scorpius knew him much better than Albus did, so maybe he was right? He would just make sure that Scorpius always felt valued, he thought. Always felt loved. He jolted alert at that last thought. Loved? Where did that come from? That was a disconcerting thought. He was just concerned about his friend, he decided, but let go of Scorpius and quickly cast around for a change of subject to stop himself dwelling on this new and strange idea.  
He was saved by Lily’s voice, shouting up the stairs. ‘Oi! Are you two ever coming down? We want to complete your humiliation!’

Albus grinned mischievously. ‘Well we can’t let that happen. Come on, let’s finish the game- let’s go and kick Rose and Lily’s arses.’


	3. Realisations

'Alright little bro?' asked James as he plopped down beside him on the sofa.

'Urgh, all this stuff we need to do for Teddy and Vic's wedding.' complained Albus. 'Engagement party tonight, dress robe fitting tomorrow. All this faff. I'm never getting married.'

'Really? Don’t want to be tied down to just one person eh?' he winked.

'No, I don’t want to be tied to any of them! I've met all the witches of my age- even the ones in different houses or years I've met at those parties Dad’s dragged us along to.’

He grimaced. His Dad felt obliged to accept every invite he was given- and there were a lot. Everyone had lost someone at the Battle of Hogwarts, and Harry's guilt was enough to make him feel like he still had to make it up to them, all these years later. Ginny, of course, knew that most people were only inviting him so that they could say that 'Harry Potter' had attended their party, and only attended the most interesting ones. James, Albus, Lily or all three were often therefore dragged along to keep Harry company.

He sighed. 'And I don’t fancy any of them. I know that makes me weird.'

'It doesn’t make you weird. Maybe you're asexual. And that's fine. Or maybe the person you’re meant for is not at Hogwarts. Or is, and you just haven’t seen them in that way. Look at Dad- Mum was there the whole time, it just took him ages to notice.'

'Well there's no-one like that for me.' He paused. He'd never talked to James about this stuff before, but today, maybe it was the wine he'd been drinking, or maybe something had changed between them, but James seemed surprisingly easy to talk to. 

'I've never even kissed anyone, you know? But not even really wanted to. Even if I did meet someone new, which is unlikely, they aren't going to want a sixteen year old who's never even kissed anyone.'

'Well tell you what' smiled James, 'there’s going to be a few Beaubaxtons students at the engagement party tonight, Fleur’s extended family. If Hogwarts students don't float your boat, why not try one of them. Could be good to get in some practise. Rumour is some of them are part Veela.' He winked.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Albus scanned the room, looking around at the guests . He wished Scorpius had been able to come to this party, but it was family only. Maybe it wasn’t such a terrible idea of James's, he was a terrible flirt, maybe practising on someone who would be going back to France and would be around long if he embarrassed himself would be exactly what he needed.  
He sighed in frustration. None of the girls here were attractive to him either. He could see, objectively why people might think so, with their long limbs and long silvery hair. But if anything they looked haughty. He couldn’t quite understand their attractiveness. Now the French boy cousins, them he could understand being called attractive, with their tanned skin and their dark eyelashes, and... 'Oh.No.' He thought to himself. 'No no no no no.' He couldn’t be, could he? Because Albus wasn't gay. Was he? Not only the Slytherin Potter, the untalented Potter, but the gay Potter? No, it was too much. 

It struck him that he’d never really thought about it. Other than the crush he’d had on Delphi (which he later realised was liking the fact that someone had noticed him, and made him feel important, rather than actually liking the person, Voldemort’s daughter or not), he’d never been attracted to anyone at Hogwarts, so never questioned it. Scorpius was all he needed. He dimly recalled James teasing him about fancying the Brazilian chaser Gonzalo Florez when he was little, and his mum telling James off, saying that it didn’t matter if he did fancy him, but he’d been too young then to think about fancying anyone. He was weird wasn’t he? James had had about a dozen girlfriends by the time he went in to sixth year. 

He wished Scorpius was here, to help him make sense of these feelings. Scorpius could understand Albus better than Albus could understand himself. Oh no, Scorpius! Would he think Albus was copying him? Or would he think that Albus fancied him, and was telling him in light of Scorpius’s' own revelation, in the hope that they would get together? Scorpius had made it very clear that he was not interested in Albus. He wasn't was he? No, he said to himself firmly. 'We're not going there. Not even examining that thought to see if it could be true, because that is a total no go zone. But gay, really? It made a lot of sense now. It maybe even explained why he felt so isolated in his family. Not that anyone would care he was sure, but not really knowing who he was... he'd never really felt comfortable in his skin he realised. But was he, really? He'd still never kissed anyone. Maybe he was imagining this, to make up for not fancying any of the girls? He decided that the best way to process all his feelings without Scorpius there to help was to get drunk. If you can’t face them, hide from them he thought. Always the best way.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
‘Urgh, can you speak a little quieter?’ He moaned. ‘My head is killing me!’

'Sorry!' squeaked Scorpius. 'I'm just excited! We've never been dress robe shopping together before! '

'I've never been dress robe shopping. Not sure I want to.' 

Scorpius’s face deflated a little. 

'Not that I don’t want to spend the day with you, but clothes shopping? Really? And clothes shopping with a hangover!'

'Well it's your own fault you’ve got a hangover. Can no-one in your house brew a hangover potion though?'

'Yep. Wouldn’t. Told me it was to teach me a lesson for drinking under age.' He scowled. 'Teddy would have, but I think Vic's got him off doing more wedding stuff, picking flowers or something.'

'Well if you behave I'll buy you some after we finish shopping. But we need to do that first, we have an appointment with Madame Malkin!'

Albus reluctantly followed Scorpius into the shop, wincing at the loud jangling of the bell over the door.

'Right boys, dress robes is it? Anything you have in mind?'

'I was thinking we could go in Slytherin colours, what do you think Albus? Green for you and silver for me?'

There was no colour theme for Victoire and Teddy's wedding. Born a year after the Battle of Hogwarts, she had become a symbol of hope for the future, and in combination with her connections as the niece of Harry Potter and daughter of Bill and Fleur Weasley, it meant that for her whole life she had been a very famous witch. Being beautiful didn’t hurt of course. Knowing that the press would be all over her wedding (and a wedding to Harry Potter's godson no less), she was using her status to promote tolerance and unity, and she had told everyone to come in a colour that represented them.

'All right', said Albus grumpily. 'Whatever you think really.' Scorpius beamed, and rushed over to the racks to find something for them both to try.

 

'Ok, nearly ready!' shouted Scorpius from inside his changing room.' Let’s come out together in three, two one!'

As Scorpius stepped out of the changing room, a shaft of light hit his cheek. It was like a scene from one of the really cheesy romantic films they'd been forced to watch in Muggle Studies, Albus reflected afterwards. The light shone, and Scorpius looked...gorgeous. There was no other word for it. The silver robes brought out the silvery gray of his eyes, and his smile lit up his whole face. Albus felt his knees weaken, and leant against the wall for support.

'Oh Al, you look..'. he heard Scorpius say somewhere in the distance. 'Wow. The robes, they look really, I mean, they fit you really..'

'Fuck 'Albus thought to himself. 'How much worse could this get? He wasn’t just gay, he was gay and in love with his best friend. This couldn’t be happening. No no no no no. It was obvious now, and he wondered how he'd never known before. He'd been in love with Scorpius for a very long time, but was only just, what was the phrase James used? Really seen him? He wondered, now, if James had said that on purpose. If he somehow knew. He had seemed to have a knowing look in his eyes. It would be typical for James to know before Albus did.

But he needed to get out of there. He couldn’t stay in the shop, not with Scorpius looking like that, and his knees about to give way at any moment. He threw the robes off over his head and grabbed his normal clothes as quickly as he could. 'Sorry, not feeling well..' he breathed, as he dashed from the shop.


	4. Robes

‘Arrghhhh…!’ came a shout from upstairs, and footsteps thundered down the stairs as Teddy came running.

‘What’s up?’ asked Harry as Teddy waved his robes in front of him.

‘They’re ruined! Fred and Roxanne’s prank! I don’t know what it was supposed to do, but look!’

There was a gaping hole in Teddy’s dress robes.

‘What am I going to do? Vic’s going to kill me! There’s no time to get any new dress robes!

‘It’s ok, it’s ok! Harry tried to reassure Teddy. There are that many Weasleys, someone will have robes that fit you!’

‘But they have to be black! Vic insisted- I can’t always control my hair colour if I’m nervous and she said if I got a colour it might clash!’

Just at that moment, Albus entered the kitchen, clad in his plain black dress robes. He hadn’t been able to face going back to buy the green robes that Scorpius had picked out, so had ordered some plain ones by owl order.

‘What?’ he said, as everyone looked at him.

 

Albus gladly gave up his robes- it was Teddy’s wedding day after all, and of course he would do anything to make sure that his god-brother’s day went smoothly, although he was wondering what he was going to wear, when he heard Harry call his name.

‘Albus? Can you come here a minute?’

Albus entered Harry’s bedroom to find his holding a package.

‘What are you going to wear instead today?’ he asked his son.

‘I dunno..I didn’t think I needed more than one set of dress robes..’ said Albus, scratching his head.

‘Look… you don’t have to… and I know your mum and me are wearing green too, but it’s Harpies green, so not exactly the same… but if you wanted…’ he held out the package.

Albus opened it to find bottle green dress robes. He stared at the robes, robes that were the exact colour that Scorpius had chosen for him.

‘I haven’t worn them since my fourth year. I wanted to forget all about that ball, it was a bit of a disaster, but I’ve never thrown them away. I know they aren’t new, but if you wanted…’  
Harry looked tense. Albus knew he was remembering the last time he’s tried to give Albus a less than new gift.

Both men were changed since then, and Albus took the package gratefully. He smiled to himself. Was this a sign from the Universe? ‘Thanks Dad, that would be great.’

‘Really?’ asked Harry hopefully.

‘Yeah.’ Albus smiled warmly.

Harry grinned. ‘Well you’d better get over to Gran’s, you’re taller than I was when I bought them, and she’s great at alteration spells!’  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The day of the wedding was streaming with sunlight. A hint of breeze fluttered the branches of the surrounding trees that had been turned gold as Draco and Scorpius apparated in. Scorpius had been side-along apparating with his Dad for years now, but he didn’t think he would ever enjoy it. Maybe it was different when you did it alone. Still, he was glad to be here, even if he wasn’t sure if Albus wanted to see him. 

The crowd ahead of them parted and Scorpius got a glimpse of Albus showing an elderly witch to her seat. He took a breath. Albus was wearing the bottle green robes. What did it mean? Did it mean that he had forgiven Scorpius for the way he had looked at him? Could it mean more? No, Scorpius said firmly to himself. Let’s not indulge that foolishness! But it had to be a sign that Albus was at least willing to talk to him.

He didn’t get a chance to talk to Albus, as they were shown to their seats by Louis, and Albus was busy ushering a young family to the bride’s side. However just as the last guests were seated, he felt someone plop into the empty seat beside him. He turned to see Albus smiling shyly at him.

‘Hi’ he breathed.

‘Hi.’

Scorpius wondered if Albus had deliberately kept the seat free so he could have it. The thought cheered him immensely.

‘Look.’ Albus whispered. ‘I’m sorry for being weird.’

Scorpius grinned. ‘You weren’t weird. I was. Hug it out?’

Scorpius thought that Albus looked momentarily confused, but he then grinned. ‘You are such a geek’ he whispered as he leaned in for the hug.

Further discussion was halted by a beautiful song as the bride made her appearance, Bill Weasley beaming proudly at her side.

‘Wow’ breathed Scorpius. ‘She looks beautiful!’

‘And you’re gay!’ teased Albus.

Scorpius laughed. He was glad they’d got to a place where they could joke about it. 

Victoire’s dress sparkled as she floated past. Scorpius couldn’t tell what colour it was, it looked like every colour all at once. He hadn’t been to many weddings, but he knew that this one was special. Although how much of that was down to the fact that he had Albus by his side, he didn’t want to explore too much.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, when Albus ushering duties were over, he searched for Scorpius, finding him sat with Rose in a corner surveying the room. As he approached, he heard Scorpius asking Rose to dance. His heart plummeted, before remembering that Scorpius was gay, and no longer fancied Rose. His heart gave a leap of joy at that thought.

He saw Rose look up as he approached, and heard her say ‘No, sorry Scorpius. These shoes are murder. I need to sit this one out.’

‘I’ll dance with you.’ Albus found himself blurting out, before he felt his cheeks flush with colour.

Scorpius also turned a bit pink. ‘Oh Albus, that’s sweet, but I don’t think..’ he trailed off.  
Of course. Albus felt humiliated. Why had he said that? Of course Scorpius didn’t want to dance with him! What an idiot! And was Rose smirking? Oh Merlin, that was all he needed, another reason for Rose to taunt him.

‘Kidding! I was kidding...obviously. Of course I don’t want to dance with you!’ he stammered. 

He sighed internally. It probably would have been a bad idea anyway. He want sure if he could trust himself to have his arms around Scorpius. ‘Champagne! We need champagne! You both need a drink.’ Albus rushed off, feeling his face burning. He didn’t notice Scorpius looking worriedly after him.

‘Why didn’t you dance with him?!’ Rose hissed.

‘Because I don’t trust myself! I can’t be that close to him! After I made him rush off in Madame Malkins, I’m not risking that again. How much more freaked out would he be if I can’t... control myself.’ He looked at his feet determinedly.

‘Oh Merlin, teenage boys!’ said Rose, looking like she was trying to suppress a smile.

‘And anyway my dad still doesn’t know, and if he saw me dancing with Albus, he might suspect...’

‘Are you sure he doesn’t suspect? I mean no offence Scorpius but you’re not hiding it that well.’

‘I know! And it’s awful! I’m amazed that Albus is still talking to me!’

‘You should talk to your dad you know, I’m sure it’d be fine. I mean my dad used to be the first to slag off your dad, but even he says nice things about him now he knows him.’

Scorpius threw his head back in frustration. ‘I just don’t want to disappoint him again.’

Just then, a waiter came by offering champagne. Scorpius frowned. Where had Albus got to? Now he thought about it, looking round the room, champagne was everywhere. The Weasleys certainly hadn’t skimped. So where was Albus?

He sighed. ‘I’d better go and find Albus. I’m not sure where he is, but he’s not fetching us champagne.’

He found him stood outside, leaning against a marquee pole, looking thoroughly miserable.

‘Hey’ breathed Scorpius coming to a stop beside him

‘Hi’, said Albus, not taking his eyes off the floor.

‘What’s up?’

‘What? Nothing, nothing, just getting some... fresh air.’

Scorpius looked up to the sky. The rain that had been threatening to break all day had done so, and a layer of drizzle was falling. He conjured an umbrella, and took a step closer to Albus.

‘Al’, he said softly. ‘I’m sorry I said I wouldn’t dance with you.’

Albus turned bright red again. ‘No, no, it’s fine, I mean why would you want to? It was stupid...’ He groaned. ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore.’

They both spoke at the same time. ‘I’m sorry. I lied to you.’

‘What?’ the boys said in sync. They both spoke again. ‘I lied to you.’.

‘What? You lied to me?’ exclaimed Albus.

‘Well you lied to me!’

‘Ok, me first. No, you, I want to know what you lied about, Scorpius doesn’t lie! At least not to me!’ Albus looked hurt.

Scorpius looked down. ‘Well I might remind you that you just told me that you lied to me!  
Ok ok.... ‘he paused, and took a deep breath. ‘Oh now I can’t find the words to say!’

‘Me either.’ Albus grimaced. Scorpius looked up and into Albus eyes. He drew his gaze away quickly. It was dangerous to look into Albus eyes. You could get lost in there.

‘Write it down?’ Scorpius suggested.

‘I don’t have... ‘ Scorpius drew a quill out of his pocket. ‘Of course you do.’

‘Well I don’t know when inspiration might strike me! he defended.’ He duplicated the quill and parchment and passed one set to Albus. Both boys frowned in concentration as they tried to find the words they couldn’t say aloud. Scorpius chanced a glance at Albus and his heart felt oddly full as Albus sucked on the end of his quill. His hair was damp from the evening drizzle. Had he ever realised just how beautiful Albus was?. 

After a moment they finished their scrawls, and they looked up tentatively.

‘Ready? One, two, three, switch!’

‘Hey... ‘Scorpius was just about to exclaim that Albus must have messed up and accidentally switched them back, so they ended up with their own parchment, when he realised that this was not his handwriting, and it was unequivocally Albus’s. But on it was written the exact same phrase that he himself has written.

‘I think I’m in love with you.’

They both stared at their parchment for a full minute. Then at each other.

Then Albus mouth was on his, his hands in his hair, round his waist, and Scorpius was being kissed for the first time, fiercely, roughly. Just as abruptly, Albus pulled away. 

Scorpius stared at him. ‘Are we sure the sorting hat always gets it right? Because that was pure Gryffindor.’

‘Sorry.’ Said Albus breathlessly, and a little embarrassed. ‘It’s all this… these...’

‘Testosterone.’ Scorpius supplied. ‘All this testosterone.’

‘Yeah, that. And... I’ve wanted to tell you how I felt for so long, but I was terrified you wouldn’t feel the same, and then I’d lose you and…’he trailed off.

‘Are you kidding me? That’s exactly what I’ve been worried about! After I scared you off in Madame Malkins-‘

‘What?! You didn’t scare me off, I freaked out! Because you came out of that changing room and you looked so... ‘he blushed. ‘So you. And I didn’t know. Before that I had no idea. And suddenly I was in love with my best friend and I had no idea what to do.’

Scorpius grinned. Albus grinned back.

‘Can I try again?’

‘I would like that very much.’

He took a tentative step towards Albus, and gently cupped his face in his hands. And even though it was only Scorpius’s second kiss, he knew that even if he’d had lots of experience this would be the best kiss of his life, because suddenly there was nothing but Albus, his soft lips, his slightly salty taste, and oh Merlin was that his tongue? And Scorpius felt shivers of delight ripple down his spine and -

‘Oi!’ Their bliss was interrupted by a smirking Rose.

‘Sorry to interrupt Chaps, came James’s voice from behind Rose, Dumbledore knows I didn’t want to (about bloody time by the way) but Scorpius, your Dad is heading this way.’

Scorpius blushed furiously. ‘Oh, thanks... ‘ he suddenly looked confused. ‘How did you...’

He vaguely noticed Albus looking panicked out of the corner of his eye.

‘Intuition, my friend. Don’t worry, there’s lots of things I’ve done that I’d rather my parents didn’t know about too.’

‘What’s that I hear?’ Ginny’s head appeared through the marquee tent flaps. ‘You’ve been doing things you don’t want your parents to hear about?’

James grinned and slung an arm round his mum’s shoulders. ‘You must have misheard me mother dearest, I would never do anything I didn’t want you to know about.’

Ginny snorted. ‘Then you’re not having enough fun! How boring!’ 

‘Anyway mum, you owe me five galleons.’ He nodded towards Albus and Scorpius.

‘Ah,’ said Ginny nonplussed. ‘Well technically we both owe Rose ten gallons.’

Albus looked horrified. ‘What’s this about? Have you been betting on us? Were all of you talking about us behind our backs? He asked angrily.

Ginny softened her tone. I’m sorry love. ‘We weren’t talking behind your back, we were just trying to think how to help you.’

‘Help us, more like, we were sick of you two making eyes at each other and not doing anything about it’ smirked James.

Scorpius blushed. Albus found it incredibly endearing.

Scorpius had just enough time to reflect on the thought that this meant that all the Potters knew about their relationship (how long had they known? Longer than Scorpius and Albus certainly) before remembering that he hadn’t told his Dad anything.

Scorpius suddenly looked panicked. ‘But my Dad, he doesn’t-’

Do you want to talk to your Dad? I can find you a quiet space?’ asked Ginny, turning to face him.

‘No!’ squeaked Scorpius. Not now, ‘I- I’m not ready!’’ He widened his eyes as he heard Draco’s voice getting louder as he approached, calling for Scorpius.

‘Ok well then Albus why don’t you go and show Scorpius Gran’s hydrangea bush at the back of the garden, it’s quite secluded there, I don’t think anyone else has ventured that far.’ She handed them a bottle of mead.

‘What? Why would Scorpius be interested in a bush?‘ James rolled his eyes, and Ginny looked like she was trying not to laugh. Scorpius had gone from white back to red again.

‘Come on,’ he tugged gently at Albus sleeve.

‘Ohhhh’ then his face turned to disgust.’ Mum! Stop trying to organise my love life!’

‘What?! This way we don’t have to see it!’ Both Scorpius and Albus were now Weasley red.

‘What happened to the no underage drinking?’ muttered Albus taking the bottle, and not meeting his mum’s eyes.

‘Oh I’m giving you this so you don’t take firewhisky. Now go before I change my mind!’

Albus didn’t need telling twice, and charged off, pulling Scorpius with him, just in time, as Draco emerged a moment later.

‘Have you seen my son?’

‘He’s in the bushes with Albus.’ Ginny grinned.

‘Mum!’ exclaimed James.

Ginny rolled her eyes. ‘Draco knows! He’s known for ages. Of course I wouldn’t break Scorpius’ confidence otherwise.’

Draco smiled wryly. ‘In the bushes? Literally or figuratively?’

‘Both’, supplied James.’ Mum sent them off with a bottle of mead.’

Draco raised his eyebrows as he looked at Ginny.

‘What? I suppose you think I’m a terrible parent? You should be glad they’re getting on with it rather than pining over each other like they have been all summer.’

‘Hmmm. Not sure I want to know what it is, but thank you for the information.’

‘Relax,’ said Ginny smiling. ‘And trust me, it’s better this way. When you’ve seen your teenage son and his partner in their honeymoon stage... trust me.’

‘Oi, I hope you’re not talking about me!’ Inputted James.

‘I certainly am! You were nauseating. Every single time!’

‘I was not. I was in love. It was romantic!’

‘Well I’d rather you be romantic somewhere else.’

‘Hypocrite! You and Dad set me a bad example!’

‘Aww poor Jamie, traumatised by the sight of his parents in love!’

‘Anyway,’ interjected Draco, ‘as much as I want to hear about Harry and Ginny’s love life, I just came to tell Scorpius I was leaving, and I’d see him back at home, but I suppose I’d better wait to say goodbye.’

‘Nah, they could be hours.’ We’ll tell, them,’ said James.

Draco didn’t look happy about this.

‘If they get too drunk they can always stay in one of the tents grandad put up.’

‘Well I severely hope that Scorpius will not get too drunk’ said Draco, his lips pursed. ‘I can see the Potters are already a bad influence on him.’

‘Oh we’re only getting started!’ laughed Ginny.


	5. Resolution

‘I’ll see you tomorrow’, Draco heard Albus telling Scorpius. ‘But owl me tonight. Either way. You can always come over if... but you won’t need to!’ he added quickly.’ It’ll be fine. And if it isn’t, my parents love you, I told you before, you can become an honorary Potter.’

Scorpius smiled weakly. 

Albus kissed him gently. ‘It won’t, come to that, your Dad loves you, and he’ll still love you after you tell him. I mean he might not love me, but it won’t change how he feels about you. And like I said, I reckon he already knows anyway. He looks at me sort of knowingly, you know?’

‘No! I don’t! Should I have told him earlier? Oh no...’

‘Scorpius relax! It’ll be fine, I promise.’ He kissed him again. Scorpius was reluctant to let go this time, knowing that what he was about to tell his dad could taint everything.

‘Ok,’ he said in a small voice.’ I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Less than 24 hours’. Albus smiled, and pulled him in for one last hug.

Draco smiled fondly as he heard the affection in Albus’s voice. He was surprised to admit it, but he was proud of his son’s choice. He hadn’t always been sure about their relationship- although not related to Albus himself- of all the Potters, Albus was the one he liked the most. Must be the Slytherin in him, he thought wryly. No, it was simply because he was a Potter- and Potters had a tendency to get themselves in trouble. Draco knew that Scorpius would get swept up in it- his fourth year was a case in point. But he knew that Albus made Scorpius happy. 

And their friendship had already brought changes to Draco’s life- Draco’s life had been quiet since he’d lost Astoria, but Scorpius’s friendship with Albus had led to a widening of both their social circles. Given how much his family has been scorned after the Second Wizarding War, little did Draco think he would be socialising with the most influential wizarding families! Not that he really cared about influence. His father, he thought ironically would have cared very much. He wondered if he would have swallowed his pride and encouraged these connections, had he still been alive. Probably, he reflected, his father had been pragmatic, as well as ambitious. But still, even if he didn’t care about the influence, he was surprised by how much he liked the people. How much he liked having people in his life. He had thought that the three of them were enough, but losing Astoria, and the time turner events had taught him the value of having a wider circle, and so as much as he was surprised to admit it, he was glad of what Albus had brought to both their lives. 

He was less glad of the further attention that would be thrust on Scorpius by having such a connection to the Potters. He knew now that they didn’t court it, but the wizarding world seemed just as fascinated by the family as they had twenty years ago. But they would have to deal with that when it came to it. He was pleased that his son was at least ready to tell him. All summer, he’d been trying to find ways to tell Scorpius that it was ok, and he was disappointed that his son seemed to think him homophobic. It had taken Ginny to suggest that Scorpius might be worried about being the last of the Malfoys- Harry had told her about his and Draco’s conversation about the decision to have Scorpius. She’d been right to think that Draco had never communicated this to Scorpius, and it had pained Draco to think that Scorpius might have believed that they only had him to continue the family line. He was grateful- armed with this knowledge he felt he knew now how to reassure his son.

He smiled to himself as he heard Scorpius’s footsteps, picking up a book that he could pretend he’d been reading rather than eavesdropping on their conversation. 

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scorpius beamed as he saw Albus rushing towards him, and threw himself into his arms.

‘Potters’ said Draco, nodding at the family as they arrived on the platform.

Draco! smiled Ginny, as she surprised him with a hug. The Potters being so tactile would take some getting used to. Harry, thankfully held out a hand. They weren’t in hugging territory yet!

Ginny rolled her eyes as she nodded towards the boys. ‘You’d never believe they only saw each other yesterday.’

Draco smiled grimly. ‘Yes, I don’t think we’d get a look in even if they weren’t going back to Hogwarts.’

Students began clambering on to the train as whistles began to blow, and steam poured from the train. The Potters, as usual, Draco had noted disapprovingly, had been late.

‘Scorpius, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up with Albus at school, let go of him long enough to say goodbye to me.’ Draco’s words were stern, but his eyes were twinkling. He hadn’t seen his son this happy in a long time, and he delighted in it.

Scorpius blushed. ‘Sorry Dad’ he mumbled as he leaned in for a hug.

‘Have a good term. Remember what we talked about.’

‘Dad!’ Scorpius was now the colour of the school train.

‘What?’ Albus asked quizzically.

‘I’ll tell you later…maybe’ Scorpius muttered embarrassedly as he turned to get on the train.

‘Not so fast!’ Ginny called out, holding her arms out.

Scorpius’s face lit up as he threw himself into Ginny’s arms. Draco noted his eyes glistening a moment later and felt a pang- Scorpius hadn’t been hugged goodbye by a mother for year, and he knew that Scorpius must be feeling it. Draco smiled warmly at Ginny to attempt to convey his gratitude. Ginny nodded- Draco knew she understood.

Draco held out a hand to Albus, and then surprised himself by pulling Albus in for a hug. He smiled as he caught sight of his beaming son over Albus’s shoulder.

‘Have a good term boys, have lots of fun, get into lots of trouble!’ called Ginny as both boys climbed aboard.

Draco raised an eyebrow.

‘Ok well not too much trouble. But make sure you have fun!’

‘Oh we will!’ The boys had identical, besotted grins. ‘I think this is going to be the best year yet!’


End file.
